Well, this particular quote might come from Stalin, but it's based on an old Hegelian idea, that of a surplus of quantity becoming quality (add enough mass and you get a black hole, temperature over 100oC and you get boiling water, etc).
(Makes sense, since Marx, Lenin, Stalin et co were heavy readers of Hegel).
From Wikipedia: "One important dialectical principle for Hegel is the transition from quantity to quality, which he terms the Measure."
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Well, this particular quote might come from Stalin, but it's based on an old Hegelian idea, that of a surplus of quantity becoming quality (add enough mass and you get a black hole, temperature over 100oC and you get boiling water, etc).
(Makes sense, since Marx, Lenin, Stalin et co were heavy readers of Hegel).
From Wikipedia: "One important dialectical principle for Hegel is the transition from quantity to quality, which he terms the Measure."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialectic#Hegelian_dialectic
Also check the ancient greek notion of the "sorites paradox", which deals with a similar idea:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorites_paradox